THE BBC’s political interrogator Andrew Neil is keen to stress that he’s going to great efforts to stay in shape during his summer break.

The perma-tanned Daily Politics host, who is enjoying a holiday in Grasse on the French Riviera, declared yesterday: “I’m off for my daily run of death through the hills of Grasse. Just making sure I reach 50.”

It would of course be pedantic of me at this stage to point out that Mr Neil, pictured, is actually a sprightly 62.

JOAN Collins is far from impressed with the decision by ultra-trendy London venue Soho House to ban men from wearing suits and ties.

WILLIAM Hague suggests he might want to stick around in the Foreign Office longer than we might think.

The Foreign Secretary admits to being rather impressed by the lengthy shift put in by one international counterpart.

“I went to see my Saudi colleague in Jeddah three weeks ago and he has now been foreign minister for 36 years since 1975 so I’m still a bit of a young foreign minister,” he tells Conservative Home. “My ambition is not only to take the right foreign policy decisions now but to equip the country with the Foreign Office it needs for the next couple of decades.”

Mind you he acknowledges longevity isn’t exactly the norm in the international arena these days. “On the other hand, of my 26 European colleagues 14 of them have changed in 14 months – one a month!” he adds.

HE has set many female pulses racing during his stint as the dashing Adam Carter in the hit BBC series Spooks but Rupert Penry-Jones reckons producers are reluctant to allow him to flash the flesh now that he has reached 40.

The actor, who returns in Spooks later this year, insists he’s still keen on the idea of more nude scenes but reckons those days have come to an end. “I’ll still do them but I don’t get asked much,” he tells Woman’s Own. “That’s a sign, I guess.”

Meanwhile the star claims he was relieved to reach the landmark age of 40. “I’m glad it’s over,” he adds. “I had a party with a friend who was turning 30 so that took the edge off.”

AMID calls for the death penalty to be reintroduced in the UK high-profile Tory MP Louise Mensch can’t resist repeating one less than politically correct gag she’s seen on Twitter.

Referring to the famous misfortunes suffered by England’s footballers the recently-married Corby MP, pictured, yesterday made a point of publishing the following on her official Twitter page: “The death penalty would be no good in England. We’re rubbish at penalties.”

LABOUR’S parliamentary chairman Tony Lloyd has cut a fairly sorry-looking figure in recent days after fracturing his hand courtesy of falling off a trampoline in his Manchester Central constituency.

With his hand in plaster the 61-year-old now explains: “While I have perfected the going up it is the going down that has caused problems.” Let’s hope he can bounce back.